Making a long, narrow living room feel cozy and inviting is not simple. If you have kids who need lots of room to run about and play, the lack of square footage and the rectangle layout will likely drive you crazy.
Though sometimes necessary, major remodeling and wall removal are not always advisable. It can be equally difficult for many people to relocate to a larger house or apartment immediately. There’s nothing for it except to make do with what you’ve got, which means becoming creative with ways to make the area feel more spacious than it is.
Guidelines for Decorating a Narrow Living Space
Here are some suggestions to help you make your long, rectangular living room the most eye-catching space in the house.
1- Optimize Your Color Combination
A room’s color scheme significantly affects how big it seems. If you can’t afford to paint the entire house, at least think about getting some new paint for the living room and leaving the rest as is.
A color is a tool used by interior designers worldwide to make a room feel more energetic, open, and spacious. How we feel, our hunger, and how much sleep we get are all directly influenced by the colors around us. Further, if you paint a long, narrow living room in the proper colors, it can appear much larger.
Walls in a long, narrow space can benefit from lighter colors, like off-white, according to many interior designers. On the other hand, shorter walls benefit from darker hues like royal blue and emerald green. A square shape will result from this arrangement in your room.
For more information, visit our e-book on painting to make a tiny room seem larger.Â
Remove Furnishings From Walls
One of the most common mistakes individuals make when designing their houses is forcing furniture against the wall. It may seem like a good idea to push all the furniture against the walls to make more room in the center, but doing so may work against your goals.
One solution for decorating a tiny, narrow living room is to move the furniture in from the walls and create a seating area in the center of the space. Move your sofa 90 degrees from the longer wall. You may set your coffee table in front of it and arrange your chairs or second couch against the wall across from it to create a comfortable conversation area.
Depending on how many pieces of furniture you have in your living room, you may set up this little island in the middle or at the back. A rug beneath the sofas and coffee table can help give the impression of a dedicated room. In addition, a compact dining table can serve double duty as a coffee table in the living room.
Use less hefty furniture; this leads us neatly into our next recommendation.
2- Add Circles To The Room’s Decor
Rooms that are quite long and narrow may benefit from having round coffee tables in the center.
Furniture with rounded corners and exposed legs works well in a long, narrow living room. For instance, circular coffee tables with glass tops might be a terrific option for rooms that feel cramped owing to their arrangement. Similarly, if you have a U-shaped sectional, you can arrange your sofas, so the space feels more open and wide.
They are a great way to inject color into your home without making it look cluttered. Couches and chairs with rounded corners are a great option if you’re looking for new furniture. Alternatively, you can buy a house in a furnished society such as zem ark in Islamabad.
In addition, tapestries or paintings in a circular format can be a nice addition to the decor. It will elevate the room’s decor to a higher level. Long, narrow living rooms can benefit from the inclusion of rounded lampshades and carpets, which draw the eye downward and provide the illusion of more space.
On the other hand, if you’re in the market for used furnishings, you’ll find a wealth of information in our handy guide.
3- Adorn Your Walls With Mirrors
Maybe you’ve heard the adage, “What seems far away in the mirror may actually be in front of your face.”
Without splurging on new wall paint or bulky furniture, a huge round mirror or a group of smaller mirrors may do wonders for a long, narrow living room. Any shop selling furniture and housewares will have these, and they won’t cost you anything.
The next step after deciding on a frame and style is picking a location to hang it. It is advised to put the mirror in the middle of the shorter wall so that the room appears less like a little shipping container and more like a regular room. This will create the optical illusion that the shorter wall on the opposite end is much wider and closer than it is.
4- Create Separate Areas In The Room
Make careful to section off your living area if it’s rectangular.
A lengthy living room is an excellent opportunity to create various areas for various functions. As an illustration, you can utilize the setup described above to separate a dining area from a small seating space in the same room by only moving some furniture around. You can put your TV and game system in the room if there is any extra room.
Rugs are a great way to divide a long, narrow living room with a TV into distinct zones. They serve a dual purpose of delineating distinct areas and creating the impression of order and cleanliness. Large pieces of furniture can be set on their respective rugs using just the front legs.
Using a screen or barrier to divide your living space is another option. To divide a long, thin space into more manageable sections, utilize open shelves and bookcases. This advice may be especially useful if you intend to make your living room a home office.
5- Optimize The Use Of Upright Space
Finally, if your living space is long and narrow, you can break up the space by installing tall bookshelves to attract the eye upward. Such furniture does double duty by elevating the overall aesthetic of your home and providing extra storage. Like, if you have a dedicated working space, why not try investing in some electric standing desk? It saves some space and prevents you from sitting all day if you’re at work.
The living room is usually the first area guests see when they enter a home or apartment, and well-decorated bookshelves may serve as the focal point of any room. You can consider purchasing bespoke bookshelves if your budget allows. You may also easily simulate the look of expensive built-ins with some inexpensive bookcases. So all you need to do is search on internet tech gadgets and decorate your house with them.
Use floor-to-ceiling curtains with vertical stripes to make your walls appear higher and your space more proportionate. These are some alternative options to consider if you’re interested in giving the impression of higher ceilings.
You need only rearrange the existing furniture to provide a cozy seating area, keeping in mind that it should not be pushed against any walls. Also, utilize swatches of various light and dark hues on the long and short walls to determine which color combination best complements your home’s design concept if you are having trouble deciding on paint colors for a long and narrow living room.
Rectangular rooms can benefit from including round mirrors, rugs, and bookcases.
